May 7, 2018
With the closing of Bob & Ron’s Fish Fry a couple of years ago, great reasons for going to Albany further dwindled. There’s always SUNY, if college is your goal. And stopping for gas en route to Saratoga is never a bad idea. But beyond that it gets tough. Still, some New Yorkers are actually very keen on going there and three of them were in the Village on Sunday evening.
The occasion was a forum with Alessandra Biaggi, Robert Jackson, and Blake Morris presented by United Thru Action. They are all candidates challenging incumbent NY State Senators. Biaggi is taking on Jeffrey Klein, leader of the recently disbanded IDC. Jackson is hoping to unseat Marisol Alcantara, another IDC alum. Morris wants the office occupied by Simcha Felder. The primary is on September 13.
The Gazette spoke with candidate Morris following the forum’s conclusion. He’s running against Felder in the 17th Senate District which boasts the state’s lowest registration and turnout rates. It includes the Borough Park, Flatbush, Kensington, Mapleton, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, and Sunset Park areas in Brooklyn. He said the Senate has a Math problem: 63 Senators; 32 D and 31 R. But since his opponent sides with R, it’s 31 D and 32 R, giving Republicans control.
Blake Morris
“People vote for Felder thinking they’re getting a Democrat and they get a Republican.”
“If Rob and Alessandra win, and Felder wins, you get John Flanagan and a Republican Senate.”
“To get a majority, we have to take out Felder.”
Morris called for campaign finance reform adding, “without public financing you have Willie Sutton,” name-checking the legendary stick up artist who reportedly said “because that’s where the money is” when a reporter asked him why he robbed banks. “Candidates go where the money is.”
He also wants rent laws that deliver less stress and more housing and favors descheduling marijuana on the Federal level, then distributing it along the lines of alcohol and tobacco. He avoids using the word “decriminalize,” he said, because it should have never been criminal to begin with. The MTA has the highest bond rating, he said, and could access billions of dollars to improve and maintain public transit, but they won’t “because they’re cheap, not because they can’t afford to.”
An issue on which he differs with Felder is enforcement cameras and lower speed limits on Ocean Parkway, one of the city’s deadliest streets for pedestrians. Felder opposes both, according to Morris. His run is complicated by the possibility that he could defeat Felder in the September primary only to face him in a November rematch should Felder run as a Republican candidate. Another possibility, and one that would greatly improve Morris’ prospects, is that Felder decides not to run for another term. He ran on all three major lines last election: R, D, and C, essentially unopposed. Stay tuned.
(Cover photo of Robert Jackson)